Advisor: N. Aubry, Mechanical
Engineering.
The Aubry group focuses on the manipulation of micro/nano particles in
microfluidic devices by means of a non-uniform electric field, a phenomenon which
can be used for particle separation, transport, clustering and chaining. Particles
experience hydrodynamic and electrical forces, the latter being due to the polarization
of the particles due to the mismatch between the dielectric constants of the
fluid and that of the particles, and the non-uniformity of the electric field.
When particles get close to each other, electrical and hydrodynamic particle-particle
interactions also play an important role in the particles dynamics. In addition,
nano-sized particles are subject to Brownian forces which need to be overcome
for controlled motion. Interesting phenomena (with important consequences for
the self-assembly of particles into monolayers) also occur when particles are
placed at fluid-fluid interfaces and subjected to a uniform electric field, or
when particles are deformable particles such as bubbles and drops.
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